^ yy^ ' 



i 



^ -^^^ 






3B 5 3 



3 3i>> ^ 



5>0 !_ 
^ ^3 3 z> 



^^^>j3 



5^ 3 ) 






. )^ '_> ■ 









:z> j3> ^ ))3 __ 



l> ,:» 



^J5 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



33;3- 



4?l5 









PRESENTED BY 



UNITED STATES OP AMEEIOA. 



?:> z> ^ 



3 ^) 






1^ 



:>>!> 









. :> )y> :^ Tj 









113 



^ 3> L 



^ ^ 



3S 






:>^ 



5^ 









^ 5 ^"-^ 



^ 3 T>3i. 






:5:> ^ 

3^ .^ 



03 ^^"^ :^ )j3 

li^B ill 



55 :^ :» 



^i>^ 



?? ^' 



?^^ ^^ ^J>^^ y^ ^ 












> 3 ^ 

> >;3 

^ rj — ■ 

> >>~ 






3 3> : 



^:^ :^ ~33 



1^ 



3 D 3 ^ 

3 3 3 J 3^ 
3 3 33T> 

3:) 3 3T^ 
>3 3 >5 
33 3 0T 

3^ :3 3T 

:> ) 3 3'D 

^3 :3/3 3'' 
^3 .3^3 3- 
->> 3^'3 3^ 

■5 •> >o > . j> -'^ 

:>y 3f^:> >- 



3;>^ 33 

^^ ^^C^ 33 
^> ::s>^ -33 

>?^ 3-> 

-^ ^>^> - 3 :: 
^ ^^ 3i 



>^ 3 i> 
333 > y^ 

3 3 3 o^Z> 

3J> j>^r 

3j> > >y 
33 3 jT 

33 .3> O' 
33 :2> yy~ 

3^ 13> 3:5' 
3 3 3> ^ a^ 
3 3 3> ^ 3».' 

33 ^ 3:^ 

33 _^3 3 

>3 .::3> 3^13"^ 

~>3" Z3> ::>>3 " 
33"3» 3 3)3 '^ 

30 ^> 333 





-AND- 



l ' 



-OF — 





«mm£ 



/ 



f^mVm iia fimmm^ 



■4- 



-FORMING THE- 




Delivered at the Celebration near Bellville, 
July 4th, 187). 




Banner Print, Brenhani 

r . . .. t'-: — 




-o^^ 



i 



^ ifo "^. "^ 


G. 


^" '^ 


'■^ 


"(i 




Oi 


■~~ 


;.^ ^ 


- 


'-^ 


Vc 


^■^^ 


,^ 


T> 


S* ^- 








ij ^J 


^ 


Ct 


S ^ 




^ 




:;^ 


^ 






^ ^ 










5i 




5 ^ 
^ ? 


2 

Si 




■^ 


<>J 


o ^ 


^ C!t 


C^ 


■^ . 


Ca 5i 


55 


K-. 


^ 5^ 


55- 


Oo 


5 ^ 






55 












t-^ 






Oo 






^:i 



AN 
HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE SKETCH 

OF 

AUSTIN COUNTY, TEXAS, 

By MARTIN M. KENNEY, 

Forming the Centennial Address , delivered at the Celebration 
near Bellville. July 4th, i8y6 



Austin county is centrally situated in the physical geogra- 
phy of Texas. A brief sketch of that geography will lead to 
the most ready comprehension of the natural features of the 
section embraced in this county. 

The immediate valley of the Mississippi is shrouded in a 
dense unbroken forest. From the great river, going west, 
the continuity of the forest is soon found to be interrupted 
by occasional prairies, and as we advance westward the prai- 
ries become more and more numerous and extensive. The 
forest is at length confined to the alluvial valleys of the 
streams, and to certain belts of sandy soil which stretch 
across the country froni Northeast to Southwest. The prai- 
ries are not continuous either, being interspersed with salient 
points of timber : with groves, of a great variety of outline, 
lone trees and thickets which fringe the minor streams, form- 
ing highly picturesque landscapes. Further west the prai- 
ries predominate more and more until finally they stretch 
away in vast treeless plains. Texas occupies all the inter- 
mediate gradations from the damp unbroken forests of the 
Mississippi to the rainless and treeless wastes of the Rio 
Grande. Austin county is in that intermediate position 
where the forest and prairie are equally divided. 
' "There is another gradation of the general topography of 
the State from the mountains to the gulf. The northwestern 



half of Texas is a great table land elevated nearly a mile 
above the level of the sea. Toward the southeast the surface 
of the country slopes down through a succession of beautiful 
mountains and hills to vast levels, which appear to have been 
recently the bottom of the sea. These levels are nearly all 
prairies; they present to the spectator a striking image of the 
expanse of the sea, which indeed they join by so gentle a 
gradient that they are distinguished t the eye by the blue of 
the water and the green of the plain, rather than by the ffltl 
vation of the coast, and the feeble tides of the gulf maintain" 
a ceaseless dispute with the land for an uncertain boundary. 

Austin county, in its southern portion, includes the inland 
margin of the level prairies. In the northwest the boundary 
lines of the county run over rolling hills which rise to an 
average height of fifty feet above the intervening valleys. 
Some hills are more than a hundred feet in height and afford 
views of very beautiful and extensive landscapes. The 
general surface of the county rises from southeast to north- 
west about three hundred feet. The streams course to the 
southeast as do .most others in Texas. One considerable 
tributary of the Brazos river crosses the county. This 
stream now called Mill creek, was knovvn to the Spaniards 
as the Palmetto (from a species of dwarf palm common to 
the Mississippi valley which grows profusely on its lower 
course.) This stream is formed by the union gof two 
principal branches, the east and west Mill creeks, having 
their sources in Washington county, and an immense num- 
ber of tributary rivulets which flow in from all sides in Austin 
county. Two other independent tributaries of the Brazos 
rise and run their course in this county named by the early 
settlers, from notural features which designated them, the 
Caney and the Piney creeks, though the cane brake near the 
mouth of one and a few scattered pines on the other, are very 
trivial in extent. Their sources are in the forests of oaks. 
Their tributary branches run' between prairie hills crowned 
wilh groves, and announce their course down the valleys by 
fringes of thickets and waterside trees. In the Southwest 
two sources of the St. Bernard river, rising in the oak woods, 
run, with few tributaries, a solitary and shadeless course 
through sandy prairies, until they leave the county before any 
considerable stream is formed. There are perhaps more 
springs and living streams in Austin county than in any oth- 
er in Texas, and there are but few counties in the United 
States so well supplied with running water. 

A belt of oak forest, which has an average width of five 
miles, extends across Austin county from northeast to south- 
west perpendicular to the general course of the streams. It 
joins the main forest east of the Brazos and is continued 



westward to the San Antonio and Nueces rivers, disappearing 
in stunted groves beyond the latter. The soil upon which 
this timber grows is sandy. Its whole length is above two 
hundred miles. It is one of a number of similar belts nearly 
parallel, but in the northern part of Texas conforming more 
to the meridians. They are called the cross timbers. No 
tenable theory of their formition has been propounded 
They do not conform to the hills and valleys of the present, 
surface of the country. They are characterized by a sandy 
soil which in the northern part of Texas, persists over rocky 
hills and extensive plains, crossing in their extent widely dif- 
ferent geological formations. 

This'belt of oak fo: est is the most prominent feature of the 
county. It forms part of the horizon from every eininence. 
The margins of this forest on both sides are exceedingly ir- 
regular, deeply indented by narrow prairies, while points of 
timber run out for several miles into the general prairie like 
promontories of a bold coast. The timber of these woody 
promontories is as valuable as it is conveniently distributed. 

Austin county has no metalic ores, except some low ridges 
of gravel the debris of ferruginous sandstone, the history of 
which has not been traced. An occasional boulder of the 
same rock is the only indication of geological drift at least 
in a state not comminuted. There are no primitive rocks. 
Sandstone of a coarse and durable texture underlies the hills 
in thin horizontal strata which conform on the opposite sides 
of the hills and valleys; showing that the valleys are the effect 
of erosion. The fossils in these rocks are eocene or mior- 
cene The clays above the sandstone are filled with nodules 
of indurated chalk. There are a great variety of soils. The 
black calcareous and carbonaceous clay, known as black 
prairie, the most peculiar soil of Texas, predominates But 
there are sandy soils of several varieties. Eacli kind of soil 
is found in areas of irregular shape and of all sizes from 
roods to square leagues, and these areas are intermingled 
more intricately if possible than the timber and prairie. They 
do not conform to the present hills and valleys, and must be 
the formation of a former geological period. All the soils of 
the county are cultivated and prove fertile. The alluvial 
valley of Mill creek is the sediment from the present soil and 
is black clay. It shows the same phenomenon remarked in 
other streams of Texas that when the country was uninhabit- 
ed the sediment which subsided to form the soil of the valleys 
was clay and humus without sand; but since cultivation, de- 
pasturing and the washing of roads has greatly increased the 
degradation of the soil, the alluvial deposits are now sand 
with but little clay or humus. The Brazos botton, that is , 
the alluvial valley of the river, has an average width 



of three miles. It is composed of red alluvium brought 
from the high plains of the northwest and is more than 50 feet 
deep. This river also tiirows out more sand than formerly. 
The bottom is of great fertility, and overgrown with a contin- 
uous forest of trees common to such localities. The ash, the 
elm, Cottonwood, hackberry and numerous species of under- 
growth equally met with in the Mississippi bottom but the 
black and sweet gum arc wanting, and neither white oak, 
beech, or cypress appear in its whole course.. Petrified trees 
occur in the hilly parts of the county in the soil above the 
clay. They are nearly all apparently of the same species 
now found growing in this locality, and from their positions 
dispersed over sandy prairies indicate that the forest was an- 
ciently more extensive than in recent ages, or that the dis- 
tribution of woodland and prairie was different. Some of 
these petrifatcions embrace the entire trunk and larger limbs 
of trees Some indicate a tropical growth apparently ebony, 
and small pitches of white coral are incrusted on some. 

The remirkably picturesque scenery of this county has not 
changed in its general outline in half a century that the plow 
and ax have been busy here. Not onlv the indestructible 
hills and valleys remain, and not only the springs and 
streams flow on as of yore in the same channels, but the 
groves and trees that emphasized the hills and spread their 
friendly shade in the valleys have been so far spared by the 
woodman that there is no difficulty in recognizing the scene 
as it was in primeval times. The scarcity of timber as it ap- 
peared to the early emigrants from the forest covered States 
of the east, and the beauty of the groves which impressed 
even the rudest men, sufficed to restrain the wanton destruc- 
tion of trees. The cessation of the prairie fires has allowed 
the younger growth to rise, and we have now, I believe, more 
trees than at first. 

But some notable features of the landscape have changed 
or disappeared The prairies in the vernal season were then 
as smooth as the best kept lawn, a living green and bedeck'd 
with an astonishing profusion of wild flowers. Herds of deer 
incredible in numbers fed undisturbed on every hill and in 
every valley. Herds of buffalo detached from the great 
northern herds, ranged nearly to the coast and were oc- 
casionally seen on the rolling prairies of Mill creek. In the 
winter of 1825-6 several of these animals were killed by the 
early settlers a mile or two north of the present village of 
Travis, in the valley of a little stream called from this circum- 
stance " Buffalo Creek," since which time the buffalo has 
bnen no more seen in this county. In the primitive scenery 
tha most noble living feature, though not the one most fre- 
fqeuetly seen, was the wild horses. They were truly " wilder 



than the wild deer ;'" but secure in their speed, they roamed 
at will, long affording a noble sport' in the chase for their 
capture, but at the same time they were a serious annoyance 
in their power to tempt their domestic fellows to the freedom 
of the plains. 

The minor streams of water were then all chains of pools 
of clear water, reflecting the blue of the sky, and were seen 
in every vall(^, nestled among reeds and rushes, or reflecting 
the trees of overhanging groves. In the winter time the 
prairies wore a sombre yellow, but rolled in waves before the 
wind, like fields of ripened grain. But they rarely escaped 
the annual prairie fires, which swept over the whole country, 
except the shaded ground in the densely wooded valleys. 
When these fires were running, the clouds of smoke rolled 
up from so great an expanse as to rival the clouds in magni- 
tude, and at night, lit up by glittering lines of fire miles in 
length, the spectacle was one of the most sublime that the 
world aff'rds. The fire sometimes raced with dangerous 
speed before a dry north wind ; but in the history of all Texas 
I have heard of only two instances of people having lost 
their lives, unable to elude the fire. Neither of them was in 
this county. Property was not so secure from its ravages, 
and the fences of the early settlers were particularly liable to 
be destroyed. Behind the fire the ground was black, and 1 
well remember the black hills of winter and the darkness of 
the woods through which the flames had passed. 

Flocks of wild fowl, birds of passage from the far north, 
greatly exceeding their present numbers, made their winter 
abode in this unpeopled retreat. Beasts of prey were not 
wanting to add an element of uncertain danger, but of certain 
annoyance. The setting of the sun was every evening sa- 
luted by a chorus of howling wolves, which assembled by 
that signal for their nightlv prowling, and frequently through 
the night, summer and winter, called each other with the 
same dismal summons. The tremulous scream of the panther 
often came up from the darkest recesses of the forest in the 
dusk of the evening, and this stealthy foe was the most feared 
of any of the denizens of the woods The cry of this fero- 
cious creature resembles the human voice in distress, and 
was sometimes mistaki n for that of a person lost and calling 
for assistance. But notwithstanding many adventures and 
some severe encounters with this and other wild beasts, I be- 
lieve no person lost their lives by such means in this county. 
The loss of domestic animals by their depredations, how- 
ever, long continued to be a heavy burden to the early settlers. 

vSuch were the scenes which greeted the first Americans 
who, with their families, fifty-three years ago pitched their 
tents in this valley and called it home. They were the first 



of Austin's colonists, and their numbers were continually re- 
inforced until within two or three years they had the three 
hundred families which Austin had contracted with the Mex- 
ican government to settle in Texas. But these three hund- 
red dispersed themselves in small settlements over a wide 
area. The names of a mijority of those who first pitched 
upon the section of country now included in Austin county 
are as follows: Abner Kuykendall and sons, Horatio Chries- 
man. William Robbins, Early Robbins, Moses Shipman, Da- 
vid Shipman, William Prator. James Orrick, J M. Penning- 
ton, Samuel Kennedy, Isam Belcher, and David Talley. 
These settled on or near the west bank of the Brazos, above 
the mouth of Mill creek, between the latter end of 1823 and 
the beginning of 1825. 

In 1824 Mrs. Cummings and her three sons, John, James 
and William, settled on Mill creek a mile or two above its 
mouth. There the Cummings brothers built a saw and grist 
mill propelled by the water of Mill creek. 'I'his was the first 
mill of the kind erected in Texas. About the same time Joel 
Lakey became the first settler on Caney creek. The follow- 
ing list of names embraces most of the colonists who settled 
at San Felipe between the spring of 1823 and the beginning 
of the year 1827: ' John McFarland Archilles McFarland, 
Thomas Davis, Joshua Parker. Dr. Nuckles, Joseph White, 
Thomas H. Borden, Thomas M. Duke, Seth Ingram, H. H. 
League, Alexander Calvit, Johnathan C. Peyton, Wm. Pettus, 
Freeman Pettus, James Hope, James Baird, Oliver Jones, W. 
C. White, James Knight. Stephen Richardson, Wm. Smithers, 
Mrs. Jane Wilkins, Bartlet Sims, Mills M. Battle, Henry 
Cheeves, George Brown (called " Mustang Brown), William 
'Cooper (a cousin of the novelist, Fennimore Cooper), and 
Sylvanus Castleman. 

The first colonists were, as a class, men of intelligence and 
enlarged views, and of the high and resolute spirit which 
characterized the leaders in the western migration of our 
race. They compare favorably with any founders of new set- 
tlements which any age or nation can produce. To prove it 
we have but to point to the republic and Stale which they 
erected, to the laws they established, and to the posterity 
they have left. They undertook an enterprise which for mag- 
nitude and the difficulties attending it has no parallel in the 
past century, and they accomplished all they undertook. 
When we consider the means and appliances which were at 
their disposal, we must be astonished no less at the speed 
than at the success of their work. When we reflect that in 
1776 the white settlements had not crossed the Alleghaney 
Mountains, that thirty years afterwards the steamboat had 
not been invented, and yet that forty-six years after the de- 



claration of American independence the Americans were 
laying the foundations of a new State on the banks of the 
Brazos, we must abate from our comparative claims to a pro- 
gressive spirit; and we must admit that if the means at com- 
mand are to be considered in comparing the achievements 
of men, the latter half of the famous century which closes 
to-dav does by no means excel the first. 

The colonists arrived here in wagons, after a tedious jour- 
ney of months, with only the few implements and short sup- 
plies which their scanty transportation enabled them to 
bring. As for provisions they had to look to their rifles and 
the wild game of the prairie and woods. The earliest bread 
they could expect was when it should be grown and gathered 
from yet unfurrowed fields. 

In the summer of 1823 the Tonkawa Indians, who pro- 
fessed friendship for the whites, stole the horses of one of the 
settlers on the Brazos, below the Labahia rood. The Indi- 
ans were pursued by the owner of the property and two or 
three of his neighbors, and being reinforced at San Felipe, 
then just founded, continued the pursuit fifty miles further 
down the river, to the camp of the Tonkawa tribe, where they 
found and recovered the horses. The chief delivered the 
thieves to the settlers, who tied them and gave them a sound 
flogging, which correct and common sense proceeding set- 
tled further trouble with them. Soon afterwards, however, 
the Waco Indians stole all their horses, and made their es- 
cape across the Yegua river, beyond which pursuit at that 
time was impracticable. 

In 1823 Austin returned from Mexico, where he had been 
to get his contract ratified, which was done by several suc- 
cessive governments which overthrew each other during the 
several months that he wa§ there. In the same year he laid 
off the town of San Felipe, in this county, for the future colo- 
nial capital. 

It surprises us that the colonists in some instances failed 
to raise bread the first year or two, more especially as there 
has been no failure of crops in Austin county for fifty years 
past during which it has been cultivated. The explanation 
is to be found in minor details of cultivation, and of soil and 
season, familiar to us, but unknown at that day. The same 
phenomenon appears in the first settlement of the Eastern 
States. The first settlers arrived here at the close of a series 
of dry years, and their first fields were on the uplands. Had 
they planted earlier in the season, it is probable that they 
would have succeeded from the first. 

In the summer of 1823 and afterwards there was war with 
the Carankawa Indians on the Colorado river, and men went 
from this settlement to the fight, but the hostilities did not 



8 

reach here. The colonists continued to arrive in numbers, 
but no census was taken for years, and I am not aware of 
any notable event connected with the arrival of any particu- 
lar family or families. In 1824 Stephen F. Austin was com- 
missioned policical chief of the colony, a vague office which 
he already virtually held. 

In July, 1824, the land office was o])ened at San Felipe, and 
titles issued to the colonists for the liberal portion of Ir.nd 
allowed by the contract of colonization : to each head of a 
family a square league (4,427 acres) and one labor (177 
acres) ; the smaller tract designed for cultivation, and the 
larger for pasturage. The colonists chose their land where- 
ever it suited them. The Idhd office was conducted upon an 
excellent system. The surveys were well made, considering 
the appliances then in use, and are well described in the 
titles. There is no difficulty at the present day in finding 
the surveys of 1824, with no other direction than those con- 
tained in the titles. • One of the surveyors Horatio Chries- 
man, is still living. It is much to be regretted that the lands 
were not required to be laid in squares, with the lines run to 
the -cardinal points. The early colonists were excusable in 
following the Spanish want of system in this respect, espe- 
cially as it coincided at the time with their individual inter- 
ests ; but it remains a blot upon the Republic and State of 
Texas that no legislative assembly has had sufficient intelli- 
gence to recognize the importance of sectionizing the public 
lands. 

The years 1822, 1823 and 1824 were the rough times in 
Texas. Commerce had not yet followed up the pioneer ad- 
vance of civilization. For new clothes the colonists had 
buckskin, and in the way of provisions, as I heard one of 
them remark, they had a fat deer for meat and a poor one 
for bread. In some of the settlements where the hostile In- 
dians restricted the hunters, there was suffering. One who 
was employed as a hunter for some of the families has left 
on record that the children used to run to meet him when he 
returned from the chase, and that which had most tried his 
feelings in his life was the looks of the children when the 
meat was exhausted and he failed to bring any. But for the 
most part, with the cattle they had brought and the great 
abundance of game, there was no hunger. Either in 1823 
or 1824 some of the colonists went to Matamoros and brought 
thence, packed on mules, flour and seed corn, and an abund- 
ance of bread and meat has been no more wanting. 

The want of government was scarcely felt among a people 
accustomed to govern themselves. They could extemj^orize 
a public power for any exigency, one of which occurred this 
year, 1824. A Mexican horse drover was robbed and 



wounded by a party of his countrymen on the Atascasito 
road, a few miles west of the Colorado. The wound-^-d drover 
escaping, gave notice to the settlers, who pursued and over- 
took some part of the robbers on the right bank of the Brazos 
river, at a point in this county opposite Groce's, and fixed 
their heads on poles by the roadside, as was the custom in 
the United States at that time in punishing highwaymen. 

Bjt there are some affairs of government not so easily ex- 
temporized. The Mexican law did not authorize marriage 
by any official other than a Catholic priest. There was no 
Catholic priest in the colony. In this dilemma the colonists 
hit upon an expedient which might be adopted with advant- 
age in older countries. The parties signed a bond in writ- 
ing, in the presence of a magistrate, wherein the marriage 
vows were suppjemented by a penalty of many thousand dol- 
lars ; but to obviate clerical objections, the church ceremo- 
nies were to be performed when the priest should arrive. The 
clerk's office of our county is the depository of many old 
Spanish archives of the colonial times; among others the file 
of marriage bonds, near a hundred in number, which form 
the record of marriages for the first seven or eight years. 
The present custom in the United States of marriage by a 
verbal agreement made in the presence of a justice of the 
peace, without priest or bond, is a doubtful improvement. 

The year 1824 is memorable for the adoption of the Fed- 
eral Republican Constitution of Mexico, and that in this 
year Texas was attached to Coahuila until it should be in a 
position to form a separate State. 

The year 1825 is memorable for the great influx of immi- 
grants and the number of new colonies formed. The Legis- 
lature of ("oahuila and Texas met at Saltillo in February, 
and on the 24th of March passed a genera' colonization law, 
under which many new colonies were formed, but Austin's 
colony continued to be the principal settlement. 

The year 1826, which was the fiftieth year of American in- 
dependence, was celebrated in the best style the colony then 
afforded. At Reason's Ferry, on the Colorado, where the 
town of Columbus now stands, there was a barbecue, which 
was attended by some of the colonists from different settle- 
ments for fifty miles around. The Indians attacked Gonzales 
on that day while many of the settlers were absent attending 
the barbecue, and broke up the settlement there, killing two 
men. This year, 1826, a commissioner arrived in Austin's 
colony, from the State government of Coahuila and Texas, 
to issue titles to five hundred faniilies additional to the first 
three hundred. 

In 1827 a new State constitution was adopted and a species 
of county organization perfected, which organization, with 



little change, still subsists in the Mexican States. Ey this 
arrangement Austin's colon}- was divided into jurisdictions, 
in each of which a court styled the "Ayuntam'ento " was ap- 
pointed, consisting of a president and six commissioners, 
with two secretaries-, with power very similar to our present 
county courts. In this year. 1827, Austin contracted to set- 
tle three hundred additional families on the cjds^. 

In 1828 I find an estimate of the expenses of the Ayunta- 
miento, or county court, to be $750 for the year, which in- 
cludes the rent of a house and the hire of a secretary. The 
pay of the president and six commissioners was altogether 
$joo. and it contains an apology for this item. 

In the summer of 1829 Capt. Abner Kuykendall, of this 
settlement, in command ^.pf ten or twelve men, several of 
whom were also from here, encountered a party of Waco In- 
dians on the west bank of the Colorado river, a few miles 
above where La Grange now stands, and drove them into 
the river, killing several. In September or October of this 
same year two companies of volunteers, raised in difierent 
])arts of the colony, but a large proportion from here, under 
Captains Bartlet Sims and Oliver Jones, both commanded 
by Capt. Abner Kuykendall, went against the Indians en- 
camped in force at the mouth of the San Saba. 'I'here was 
a running fight, but the Indians escaped. It may be a way- 
mark in the course of general history to note that the Indi- 
ans still depredate upon that locality. 

In 1829 there was a printing office established in San 
Felipe I find a bill for printing- presented to the Ayenta- 
miento by one G. B. Cotton. It seems cheap enough, but the 
economical court cut it down one-third. In the same year 
there was a newspaper printed at San Felipe callt'd the Gazette 
of Texas ; afterwards called the Mexican iVatioii. 

In this year, 1829, set in a reactionary movement in Mex- 
ico. It is impossible, in the compass of an address, to give 
an intelligible summary of the confused wrangling, which 
was called the government, in Mexico; but without such 
knowledge, the movements of so small a ection as a single 
county could not be understood. I must therefore refer to 
the history of Texas at large, and presume that the course 
of national events is already known. The monarchial and 
despotic party regained the ascendancy under President Bus- 
tamente, and the trouble -rith the central government of 
Mexico set in soon after. The State government of Coahuila 
and Texas remained republican, and got along well enough 
for several years. 

In 1830 arrived the long-looked for priest. Father Michael 
Muldoon ; fortunately for the colony, a kind-hearted, liberal- 
minded old gentleman, who did everything he could for the 



colony an 1 nothing against it. He baptized everybody and. 
performed the marriage ceremony for all who wished to be 
married, took his pay in cattle, the legal tender of that day, 
and drank his wine merrily. He wrote for the little news- 
paper, The Mexican Nation, many humorous and entertaining 
articles, both in prose and verse. He is kindly remembered 
by all who knew him. He was called away a year or two 
afterwards and no other ever took his place. 

But the colonists soon found that there was such a thing 
as spiritual hunger. The .Americans are at heart a religious 
people. So early as 1824 a methodist minister had preached 
west of the Brazos, in 1829 a sund.iy school was organized 
in San Felipe and preaching became more and more frequent 
throughout Texas. Austin viewed the arrival of protestant 
ministers with great apprehensions that it would embroil the 
the colony in trouble with the bigoted clergy of Mexico. 
But not the least disturbance ever arose in consequence 
of it. 

In 1830 the dictator, Bustamente, issued a decree forbidding 
the further immigration of American colonists. He began 
sending troops into Texas, and stationing them at different 
posts, apparently to overawe the people. The state gov- 
ernment of Coahiula and Texas did not regard his decree 
and sent commissioners Madero and Carbajal to Nacog- 
doches to make surveys and issue titles as usual. They 
were arrested by Col. Bradburn, a renegade American who 
commanded at Anahuac, a po?t on Galveston Bay. He also 
deposed the .Mcalde of the .Municipality of Liberty, (now 
Liberty County) and arrested and imprisoned without 
cause several citizens, to release whom or obtain for 
them a trial before the civic authorites. Colonel Frank 
Johnson at the head of an armed party from .Austin's 
colony mirched to Anahuac; but failing to effect any. 
thing peaceably he resorted to for-e. At his call Capt. 
Kuykendall marched from here with a company, and 
other armed parties having also joined Col. Johnson 
he was speedily enabled to accomplish his purpose. All 
the garrisons of Bustamente were broken up in a similar 
manner. 

At the same time the republican party regainedpower in 
Mexico and dispatched Col. Mexia with troops and an 
armed vessel to Texas. He proved to be a gentleman of 
intelligence and a sincere republican; seeing the nature of 
the grievances, heredressed them. He came to San Felipe 
in 1832, and was received with a popular ovation. His 
memory is held in respect. 

'I'he whole number of Americans then in Texas, has been 
estimated at 20.000. The inhabitants of this section, now 



embraced in this county, numbered, probably, near one 
thousand In 1832 the state legislature made all municipal 
officers elective. 

The Ayuntamiento, or County Court of this jursdiction 
for that year were Horatio Chriesman, president ; Regidores 
(commissioners) P. D. McNeal, VVm. Robinson. Josiah H. 
liell. Jesse Grimes, Martin Allen and Abner Kuykendall, 
sindicos. Henry Cheeves and Rawson Alley, a selection, which 
lor inteligence and character of its members has not been 
surpassed since. The town of San Felipe de Austin was a 
village of two or three hundred inhabitants, but in this small 
settlement there was more intelligence and high character 
than can be found at present in any community of similar 
number. The circumstances of the colony affording, as 
they did, a certain road to wealth, and a prospect of distinction 
in the great affairs of which it was becoming the theatre, 
had drawn from the United States many young men of talent 
and ambition. Among them the names of Eavid G. I'.urnet, 
the brothers W. H. and Patrick C. Jack, W. H. and John A. 
Wharton. R. M Williamson, W B. Travis, Thos. J. Chambers, 
Ira R. Lewis, Mosely Baker, Gail Borden, and others, are 
historical. A few of the old residents are still living, among 
whom I observe Horatio Chriesman, Charles B. Stewart and 
John P.Borden. The archives and documents of the colonial 
government, manifest by the 3tyle and correctness of their 
writing a grade of intelligence in the officials of that time 
rather above than below the bureaux of the present. A 
strangely erroneous impression prevails in the east, that the 
advanced settlers in the great western emigration are, as a 
class rude in manners, and ignorant of letters. Butthe fact is 
very much the reverse, the proportion of men of intelligence 
is much greater in the western states than in the east. 
Men do not move to the unoccupied lands of the west by 
classes. A few are led by love of adventure, but they are of 
all classes, and every grade of intelligence The leading 
motive, however, in the masses, is to secure homes and better 
the prospects of their prosterity. If they are distinguished 
from- "older settlements by any salient characteristics the 
comparison is in their favor. They are of a high and seif 
reliant spirit, with the accompanying virtues of truth and 
generosity. It has been so from the earliest times, and it is 
so now. America is so distinguished in comparison with 
Euroi)e, Europe is so characterized above Asia, the Western 
States of America have the advantage of the Eastern in this 
respect, and the newer counties of our own state, have a 
greater proportion of intelligence than the older. 1 have 
been led into this digres:-ion, and in this connection because 
Texas has suffered from this prejudice of the east, more 



than other .states in their early settlement, and I think, more 
unjustly. Recent immigrants to the west finding themselves 
:igreea()ly disapointtd in,,the character of the people among 
whom they come are disposed, rather than relinxuish a rooted 
prejudice, to charge upon the still earlier settlements a state 
of society which, in fact, never existed. Most of vou in this 
audience have been acquainted with many of the early 
settlers, and I desire to put on record that they were 
intelligent and correct peo])le. 

The village capital at San Felipe was, at the time I am 
now speaking of, (1832,) well supplied with the merchandise 
common to the United States at that period, and was the 
most considerable trading ])oint in Texas, except San An- 
tonio, (roods were now imported./rom the United States by 
way of Matagorda, at the mouth of the Colorado, Velasco, at 
the mouth of the Brazos, and Anahuac; near the mouth of 
the Trinity, on (ialveston Bay. Previously, the chief route 
of commerce was by pack mules from Nacogdoches to 
Matatnoros, following the "Cushata Trace." a noted high- 
v.ayin early times, which crossed this country from east to 
west. 1'he route was at first traced out by the Cushata indians 
(strangly enough on trading expedidiiions) between the 
points named. Their course was guided by prominent land 
marks, of which some prominent groves and a solitary mound 
in theprarie near the Barnard still retain their name. Their 
route became a beaten trail, and at length a highway, along 
which Mexican merchants used to conduct their primitive 
commerce with trains numbering, sometimes, hundreds of 
pack mules. The old " Cushata trace " is referred to as a 
hind mark in titles and deeds of conveyance, the point 
where it crossed Mill creek still retains the name, but of the 
road its self scarce a trace remains 

In 183? a convention assembled at San Felipe from all 
the colonies in Texas to frame a State constitution^ and 
petition the general government to receive Texas as a 
separate .state. Stephen F. Austin was sent to the city of 
Mexico with the petition, but instead of being received with 
the courtesy due his mission, the senseless despotism at the 
capital imprisoned him in a dungeon. 

The spring and summer of 1833 was remarkable for great 
floods in all the rivers of Texas. There were no indications 
of such overflows having occured'for centuries before, and 
there has been no inundation since, that would at all compare 
with it. The rain was unexampled throughout the next 
winter, rendering the ground so boggy that the primitive 
wagon transportation of the time was nearly entirely stopped, 
The Brazos and Colorado rivers ran together across the flat 
praries near the coast, and men navigated from one to the 



14 

other in a skiff. That extraordinary season of rain was 
preceded by a strong eist wind, which continued for seven 
weeks In November, 1833, my father, John W. Kenney, 
with his family, arrived on the Brazos, and built his cabin 
where the town of Washington was afterwards built. He 
explored the river in a canoe and brought up from Velasco a 
load of salt which was manufactured there out of sea water. 
Transportation by wagons was impossible at that season 
on account of the recent great overflow, and the incess- 
ant rains. The next year he removed to this neighborhood, 
where he resided until his death, thirty years afterwards. 
In 1834 a camp meeting was held in this neighborhood, and 
was largely attended. Su.ch means were then necessary to 
assemble a numerous congregation for reglious worship, and 
long continued to be the principal scenes of religious 
revivals. " The groves w^ere Gods first temples." and those 
great and earnest meetings, under the high arches of the 
primeval forest, afforded a presence and surroundings 
eminently condusive to religious awe. They were a great 
factor in the social affairs of early times. 

In this year, General Almonte visited Texas, by order of 
the Federal government, to examine and report upon the 
condition of the colonies. He reported the number of 
inhibitants in Texas to be about 21 000, and the trade to 
amount to 1,600 000. He doubtless over rated the trade, and 
probably somewhat underrated the number of the inhabitants. 
In the section, now included in this county, the population 
was probably near one thousand. No estimate of the number 
of negroes was made, but I suppose that in this county 
rather more than a third of the population was black. 
Some of the earliest colonists brought negroes with them. 
Mexico did not absolutelyiprohibit slavery, but it was under- 
stood that the servitude was not to be perpetual, and the 
softer name oi peon, was at first applied to the slaves. An 
eccentric gentleman, Dr. Punchard, one of the early settlers 
in this county, used to boast that he was the first man who 
brought negroes to Texas and called them slaves. Only a 
few were liberated under the Mexican law. One family, I 
remember, cqjiti'iued to live at San Felipe and their freedom 
was respected through all changes of government afterwards. 
I was told many years ago by Youngs Coleman, one of the 
earliest colonists, and who is, I believe, still living, that 
Stephen F. Austin, in a conversation with him, remarked that 
if he were legislating for posterity he would exclude negroes 
from Texas. He foresaw great trouble in this connection, 
but probably thought it to be much further in the future 
than the hurried march of modern events has realized, 
(iener.al Houston entertained similar presentiments, He 



15 

was reported to have said, " Slavery will retreat to Texas." 
adding. gloomily, 'and here, iis dreadful eddies 
will whirl." Negro slaves had been owned in the early- 
settlement of all the 'States of the Union, previously 
with more or less advantage. In this section, negro slavery 
greatly assisted the settlement of the country. It afforded 
a certain control of concentrated labor, and supplied the 
wants of domestic service, both unattainable by any other 
means in very sparsely peopled new countries. 

In 1835 the war with Mexico was fast approaching. Santa 
Anna had overthrown the Federal constitution of 1824, and 
united all the powers and departments of government in his 
single hand. The states of Zacatecas and Coahuila and 
Texas resisted. Zacatecas was subdued with a terrible 
massacre. Coahuila accepted the situation, and Texas was 
left alone. Meetings were held in all the colonies; that of 
San Felipe met on the 22d of June, and passed stirring re- 
solutions in support of the constitution of 1824. Committees 
were appointed to look out for the public interests ; there was 
a peace party also, and at that time a strong one, who feared 
the power of the president, and counselled keeping quiet and 
avoiding, if possible, attracting the attention of the contending 
parties in Mexico. But the spirit of the Americans was too 
high at that time to bear, what seemed to them, an intolerable 
insult, that the president should, by a proclamation, set aside 
the constitution and reconstruct the government. 

On the first of September Stephen F. Austin arrived from 
the city of Mexico. His arrival was so unexpected that h.c 
was ''received as one risen from the dead."' General Cos, 
commanding for Santa Anna, landed an army on Matagorda 
Bay the same month and marched to Goliad and San Anton- 
io Austin declared that war was the only alternative to 
preserve either political liberty or the landed possession of 
the colonists. In a speech at San Felipe he several times 
repeated "will you give up the homes you have made for old 
age and the toil of half a lifetime?" The war immediately 
opened by an affair at Gonzales on the 29th of September. 
At the same time a council was formed at San Felipe to 
govern provisionally. The President of that council was R. 
R. ,;^Royal. Volunteers flocked to the war in the west. Go- 
liad was taken on the 9th of October, and on the 27th of the 
same month a severe engagement took place at Mission 
Concepcion on the San Antonio river a few miles below the 
city. It was in that battle that a young man from this county 
named Henry Karnes accjuired great reputation for personal 
courage and address in an encounter which he sustained 
single handed against a number of the enemies dragoons. 



i6 

One the i6th day of October a consultation of delegates 
from all Texas met at San Felipe and organized a jirovision- 
al government, which disi)atched volunteer troops to the 
west. On the 12th of December, San Antonio was taken af- 
ter several days lighting. Gen. Cos capitulated gave up the 
town and was allowed to retire with his army beyond the Rio 
Grande. This battle contributed very much to inspire con- 
fidence in our arms. ]^ut perhaf)S it also promoted the seri- 
ous military error of contempt for the enemy, which indeed 
subsequently came near proving fatal to the fortunes of Tex- 
as. Among the incidents of my earliest recollection was the 
return of the volunteers from the taking of San Antonio. 
They brought among other things several grape shot which 
were given me for playthings. I remember wondering how 
men played with them. I have lived to see how it is done 
and bear an indifferent hand in the game, but cannot say 
that I consider it sport. A young man from this neighbor- 
hood performed several daring feats which I remember hear- 
ing highly spoken of years afterwards by those who witness- 
ed them. His name was S. Y. Reams. He has lived to see 
a vigorous old age and still resides in this county. 

In February 1836 Santa Anna advanced with a large army. 
Upon his entrance into San Antonio, the garrison, comman- 
ded by Col 'i'ravis, retired into the fort called the Alamo in 
the suburbs of the city, and there, with less than two hundred 
men, held the enemy in check in the hope of securing time 
for the colonists to rally in force sufficient to keep the war 
out of the settlements While Santa Anna was besieging the 
Alamo the citizens of Texas were assembling both in arms 
and council. About the last of P'ebruary two companies 
from San Felipe under Captains Mosely Bnker and John Bird 
and one company from here under Captain Rcvbert McNutt 
went to the rendezvous at Gonzales. At the same time a 
convention representing all settlements in Texas assembled at 
Washington on the Brazos, appointed General Houston 
Commander in Chief, and on the 2nd of March declared 
the independence of Texas. The volunteers who rendez- 
\ oused at Gonzales arrived at that place only in time to hear 
the last guns of the Alamo on the 6th of March. The heroic 
garrison held the fatal post until all were slain. 1 regret 
that I have been unable tQ get a list of those from this set- 
tlement who fell in that famous defense. The commander 
Col. Travis and several others were from San Felipe. 

The hastily collected army at Gonzales under command of 
Gen. Houston, burned that village and retreated to 
the Colorado. There the advance of the Mexican army un- 
der General Sesma was confronted for several days. There 
the terrible news came of the surrender of Fannin's division 



17 

and their treacherous massacre by the enemy at Goliad. 
Houston retreated to San Felipe, which was likewise reduced 
to ashes. But instead of crossing the Brazos, he moved up 
the river on the west side and camped for twelve days. All 
the American families fled toward the Sabine, and the few 
roads and many unmarked routes were lined with people with 
every imaginable conveyance and with none. Some moving 
leisurely with all their effects, others, destitute of a day's pro- 
visions or a change of. clothes, flying from the savage foe in 
a panic. Such a confused route of people was scarcely seen 
before in America. It was always known in common par- 
lance and correctly described as "the runaway scrape." It 
. is a remarkable fact that the farther from the danger the 
♦greater was the panic. In this county the families moved 
away more leisurely than from the Trinity. My father and 
one of his neigbors, James B. Pier, did not remove their families 
until Houston's army crossed the Brazos. 

On the morning of April 7th, 1836, Santa Anna marched 
into the ashes of San Felipe. Capt Baker, with the compa- 
nies from that place and vicinity, was posted on the east 
bank of the Brazos, where he had erected a breastwork and 
defended the passage of the river. Three men were on 
picket guard west of the river when the Mexican cavalry 
arrived. One whose name was Simpson was captured, the 
other two,. I. L. Hill and James Bell, escaped in a canoe, 
crossing the river in a shower of bullets. Santa Anna es- 
tablished a battery on the bluff west of the river, and 
cannonaded Bakers' position for several days. The fire was 
returned with rifles, the distance being scarcely two hundred 
yards. On our part we lost one man; his name was Bricker. 
The enemy's loss is not known. A steamboat was loading 
cotton at Groce's plantation above San Felipe, where Hous- 
ton crossed, and he made use of it to cross his army. It 
was then sent down the river and ran by the Mexican army 
at San Felipe, who were so much surprised at it, having never 
seen or heard of such a thing, that they did not fire at it until 
it was out of range. I believe that was the first steamboat 
which came so high up the Brazos, and it had no successor 
for several years. 

Santa Anna marched down the river and crossed at Rich- 
mond. Houston followed, and on the 21st of April, at the 
battle of San Jacinto, victory declared for the fortunes of 
Texas, and ended her colonial history. Our army at San 
Jacinto numbered about seven hundred, of which near two 
hundred were from this county. Of these some half dozen 
are still with us and two are here to-day, John Ferrel and 
Nathaniel Reed. The remaining Mexican army retreated 
through the lower country, and Austin county has not since 



i8 

seen an armed enemy. During the hostile occupation of the 
county, the Indians came to West Mill creek and carried 
off the mother and two little boys of a family who attempted 
to remain. The woman escaped after a short captivity, 
but the children were never afterward heard of. 

The citizens returned to their homes in May, and many 
of them only got their corn planted in June, but fortunate 
rains secured their bread. 

The burning of San Felipe proved a death blow to the 
town. The government of the Republic could not return 
to it, for the want of houses for immediate use, and went 
to Columbia. San Felipe was speedily in part rebuilt, 
and was the county seat of Austin county until 1847. The « 
village was always popularlv known and called by the 
name of San Felipe, or St. Phillip ; but in the public rec- 
ords it is styled the town of Austin, and so continues to 
be styled, until the new capital of the Republic was lo- 
cated on the Colorado, when the name, together with the 
title and honors of the capital, were removed to that 
city. 

The Congress of 1836 established precincts, nearly cor- 
responding to the counties subsequently formed. In 1837 
the counties were establi.shed. Austin county was defined 
with the limits which it retained until very recently. Two 
associate justices formed the county court. The first who 
presided in this county were Thomas Barnet and Robert 
Kleberg. Judge Kleburg is still living. The first District 
judge was R. M. Williamson, but the court only met in 
1837 to adjouriT! Th March 1838 the first court was organiz- 
ed. Judge Benjamin C. Franklin presiding. The first grand 
jury was composed of men whose names are familiar in our 
domestic history. Three of them I notice are still living, 
Wm, P. Huff the foreman, James B. Pier and Frederick 
Grimes. John C. Watrous, who Avas afterwards federal judge 
of Texas, was admitted to the bar of the Republic at this 
term of the court. At the time of the revolution, Austin 
county, including that section east of the Brazos lately dis- 
membered to form Waller county, had a population of about 
1500. The ten years of Texian nationality were years of ag- 
ricultural prosperity in this section. All that time Texas and 
Mexico were at war, with many expeditions to invade each 
other or to repel invasion, and a ceaseless Indian war raged 
along the near frontier. Austin county was shielded by sur- 
rounding settlements from becoming the theatre of hostili- 
ties, but furni.shed men to most of the numerous contests 
beyond her borders. In the spring of 1839 the Indians be- 
came very troublesome on the upper Brazos. A company 
Went from this county commanded by Capt John Bird, and 



19 

about the last of May had a severe engagement with the 
savages near the junction of the Gabriel and Leona rivers. 
The enemy were about four hundred strong while Bird's 
company numbered only 32 in all, but after a battle which 
lasted four hours the enemy withdrew having lost near a hun- 
dred. On our part the loss was five killed and several woun- 
Among the slain was Capt. Bird himself who fell early in the 
action struck by an arrow under the left arm while aiming 
his rifle. He exclaimed to his men "boys I am done ; stand 
your ground and fight like men and the day is ours." He 
died immediately. 

The same year a party of Indians came down East Mill 
creek, stole some horses and shot cattle, but did not kill any 
person, and they effected their own escape without punish- 
ment. This feeble raid proved to be the last of the prowling 
wild man in this countv. 

Austin county furnished men to the federal expedition of 
Col. Jordan in 1839-40. One of whom I remember was our 
schoolmaster Mr. Cummins ; his departure gave us an unex- 
pected holiday. I am sorry that I cannot do more to add his 
name to the lists of fame. He was abroad to some purpose 
in the world. Equally ready with sword and pen he served 
his country well, and lost his life at last in her defense ; hav- 
ing fallen at Dawson's defeat on the Salado near San Anton- 
io. Our quota was sent to the Santa Fe expedition of 1841^, 
to the Mier expedition of 1842 and to numerous Indian cam- 
paigns. Business of various kinds led many men to the 
frontier of the actual settlements ; the love of adventure led 
more to traverse the line of danger and numerous families 
of our early settlers lost one or more members who fell vic- 
tims to Mexican and Indian hostility. Of the young men 
who went from this neighborhood fated never <-o return I 
may mention Hanks Kuykendall who fell at Mier in 1842, and 
James H. Kenney killed by Indians at Corpus Christi in 1845. 
Their loss was felt by their kindred as a lasting bereavement 
and deeply regretted by the whole community. 

When the Republic was established in 1836-7 the church- 
es were organized, schools every where opened, and my rec- 
ollection is that both were much "better attended than at 
present. Certain it is that the early settlers did not fail to 
educate their children and the churches had a large propor- 
tion of the people. 

After the invasion of 1836 the war did not assume propor- 
tions to interrupt the pursuits of peace in this county. 
Steamboats ascended the Brazos occasionally, but the regu- 
lar trade was maintained to Houston fifty miles distant by ox 
wagons; a slow but cheap and convenient means of trans- 
portation. 



Annexation to the United States was hailed with joy by 
the people. In this county the vote was 380, and nearly 
unanimous for that measure. I believe that there was no 
State in which the sentiment of attachment to the Union was 
so strong as it was in Texas previous to annexation. An at- 
tachment which was not weakened for several years. 

From 1845 to i860, that is during the fifteen years from 
annexation until the Confederate war the history of this 
county is the uneventful history of peace. The Indian fron- 
tier with its never ceasing hostilities removed further and 
further toward the setting sun. The campaign of 1846-7 
wound up the long war with Mexico, and when the volun- 
teers returned in 1848 the weapons of war were consigned to 
neglect and rust. The people of this county turned to build 
and plow in the full conviction that they would never again 
be disturbed by war. The populaiion of this county in 1846 
was probably 2500. In 1850 the first census was taken and 
showed 3841 inhabitants of which 2286 were white, 1549 ne- 
gro slaves and six free negroes. A line of Steamboats was 
established in the Brazos which continued for a year or two 
a regular navigation from Velasco to Washington. The 
threatening attitude of national politics about this time was 
regarded here with surprise only, but the course pursued by 
yie United States in regard to the Santa Fe territory was re- 
ceived both with astonishment and resentment. It had not 
been believed before that the United States could be guilty 
of deliberate injustice and annexation began to be regretted. 
But there was no check to the material prosperity of the 
country and our county advanced rapidly in population 
and rural improvements. Railroads long talked of were 
now commenced, and in 1858 the Central, which was the sec- 
ond railroad commenced in the State, was completed as far 
as Hempstead in this county, and thence forward superseded 
both wagon and boat. In i860 the population of Austin 
county reached 10139 of which 6200 were white. About 
this time the settlements gained so far on the primitive order 
of things that the wild animals were no more troublesome 
and the annual prairie .fires ceased to dispute the fields of 
nature with the husbandman. 

The end of this peaceful and prosperous decade, and the 
end of the year i860, brought the sudden question of seces- 
sion and the breaking out of the great Confederate war. 
Our county was not noted for any person or event to distin- 
guish it favorably or otherwise from other similar sections 
involved in the struggle. When the delegates to the seces- 
sion convention were chosen a majority of the votes cast 
were in favor of the measure, but they were not a majority of 
all the voters of the county, and one of the delegates refus- 



ed on that account to attend the convention, though advo- 
cating the measure himself. During the war the county 
furnished several companies and scattering recruits to every 
part of the contest. The rendezvous at the first meeting of 
the troops was at Hempstead, then in Austin county, and 
our volunteers were dispersed through so many organizations 
that their number is not indicated by the companies ostensi- 
bly raised here. One company of infantry commanded by 
Capt. Z. Hunt, with Lieutenants Mathews, Harris and Camp- 
bell served efficiently in the famous division commanded by 
Maj. Gen. Walker. A battalion of cavalry from this county 
commanded by Lieut. Colonel Edwin Waller served with dis- 
tinction in many campaigns west of the Mississippi ; several 
companies of the 21st and 24th cavalry were principally 
made up here and this county supplied a very large quota to 
he garrisons of the coast. Once during the war a batch 
of 300 prisoners was sent here for safe keeping and sickness 
breaking out among them in the heat of summer rendered 
their stay disagreeable. At that time the enemy had adopt- 
ed their policy of refusing to exchange prisoners But the 
exchange of these was at length effected for half their num- 
ber of confederates confined in New Orleans. The civil law 
was not suspended in this county during the war. Business 
was of course extremely interrupted A precarious and de- 
ficient commerce was maintained with Matamoros, and a 
scant supply of some articles was brought by blockade run- 
ners, but for the most part the country had to rely upon do- 
mestic manufactures. The spining wheels and hand looms 
which had been for some years disused were again brought into 
service and probaly for the last time in the history of Amer- 
ica, many handicrafts whose vocation has been usurped by 
factories and commerce once more plied their callings, and 
new inventions were not wanting to meet the exigencies of 
the situation. So that withal, though there was much incon- 
venience, there was no suffering in this county during the 
war. 

Near the end of the war the troops were assembled at 
points near Hempstead, and Avhen the final collapse of the 
confederacy became known the army broke up in a mutinous 
but not disorderly manner, and the men dispered to their 
homes so quietly that no robberies or other disorders were 
perpetrated though above twenty thousand confederate sol- 
diers were scattered uncontrolled through the country. The 
immediate result of the war was to turn loose all the negroes, 
numbering then near four thousand. But this did not pro- 
duce any disturbance, they wandered around for a while in 
an aimless manner, but were soon obliged, by want of food, 
to go to work, which they performed more inefficiently than 



before, but better than was expected. The fanatical portion 
of the conquering party were much disappointed that the ne- 
groes did not attempt some brutal outrages upon the white 
people. Emissaries made speeches at Hempstead and other 
points inciting the negroes to murder, burn houses, and com- 
mit nameless atrocities. But the negroes manifested no such 
disposition and up to this time no ill feeling has sprung up 
between the blacks and whites. 

The enormity called re-construction affected this county 
less than almost any other which had a considerable negro 
population. The military commandant by good chance was 
not a fanatical partisan, and no exactions were made be- 
yond what was levied on the State at large. To secure the 
election of radical officers a sufficient number of the white 
people were prohibited from voting. But it is believed that 
the votes in this county were not falsely counted. Though 
the result of the election was kept a secret, neither the num- 
ber of votes cast nor for whom they were cast was ever pub- 
lished. The general commanding announced the officers 
chosen by himself without regard to the votes, and notorious- 
ly contrary to the results of the elections as reported to him. 
Ihe county officers of Austin county, though thus appointed, 
did not render themselves odious, nor depart widely from the 
routine duties customary in those offices. The heavy and 
unnecessary taxes levied by this monstrous derision of repub- 
lican government were common to the whole State. But no 
special exactions were made in this county, and if the money 
ostensibly raised for public purposes was embezzled or mis- 
applied I have not been able to discover it. The black re- 
publican or carpet-bag government in this State was guilty 
of so many crimes that it would seem but mere railery to 
enumerate them. But in this county at least they were inno- 
cent of some of the worst features of despotism. In this 
county there was no false imprisonment. Private affairs were 
not meddled with ; no one was prevented from following any 
occupation or calling that he chose, and. no one was hinder- 
ed by any direct or indirect exercise of power from expressing 
his opinions and sentiments freely on ail subjects whatever. 
If all future tyrannies shall leave these capital articles in the 
natural constitution of liberty unsuppressed, freedom will 
never be wholly extinguished. The grievances chiefly com- 
plained of in this county have been the absurd mockery of 
justice in negro juries, and the total neglect to keep the pub- 
lic roads in repair. 

Since the restoration of popular government, 1873, the vo- 
ters of this county have, in a great measure, discarded politi- 
cal parties in the choice of county officers, and the adminis- 
tration of county affairs has been universally satisfactory. 



23 

There are many subjects which can only be understood by 
a separate resume devoted to t;iom which would far exceed 
our limits. But in conclusion I may touch upon some of 
them. 

The health of this county has undoubtedly improved since 
the primitive settlement It was then the common lot. that 
families, especially new comers were sick in the summer and 
fall ; it is now exceptional. 

Common schools have always been maintained amply suf- 
ficient for the elementary education of the children. But 
few persons have grown up ignorant in this county, and those 
few can not attribute their ignorance to want of opportunity 
to learn. No college or high school has been attempted in 
the county. 

A general opinion prevails in America that the western ad- 
vance of the settlements is accompanied by an increase of 
rain. We do not j)erceive any change in this respect 

Venomous reptiles and insects have greatly decreased. 
The rattle snake once common is now very rarely seen. 

I believe that all other species of serpents have been equal- 
ly reduced. The formidable tarantula and centipede which 
were a novelty to American settlers, causing them often to be 
mentioned in connection with this country, and filling the 
imaginations of people in the east with dire apparitions, have 
almost disappeared. Their history is, that in all the settle- 
ments of this county no person's life has been lost from a bite 
or a sting of either. Some troublesome flies of the tabanae 
have also lessened if not disappeared, and but few if any in- 
sect pests have increased. 

This county has been reasonably exempt from crime. Two 
highway robberies only have been committed in the fifty-three 
years since its first settlement. House breaking has been 
very rare, and theft from houses so little known as to be never 
anticipated, locks are but little used. Theft of cattle and 
horses, though by no means so rare, has not been common. 
For offenses of all grades since colonial days there have been 
fourteen hundred indictments 393 felonies and 1902 misde- 
meanor, 58 have been sentenced to the State prison. Only 
one has been hanged by law. Two have been taken from 
the custody of the law and hanged by mobs. Murder and 
manslaughter has been rare compared with other counties. 
There are forty indictments for murder in the course of our 
history, 14 not tried ; but it is not creditable to our county 
that only one of those tried has been hanged by law, and he a 
negro slave. Most of the homicides have been in fights, but 
the murder of Mrs. Roach in Feb. 1869 was an atrocity as cow- 
ardly and shocking as any country has to deplore, and a recent 
murder reaches the extreme grade of parricide. In the pro- 



24 

ceedings of the colonial Ayuntamiento I find complaint of the 
number of homicides, the difficulty of keeping prisoners and 
the want of authorized tribunals within reach. We have jails 
and courts enough, but I apprehend that we are as lax in 
punishing criminals as were the ill provided colonists. Crime 
seems neither to have increased nor diminished in proportion 
to the population. 

Previous to the confederate war there were no poor people 
needing support at the public expense. The number in the 
last few years has averaged six every year costing altogether 
for each year $350. Beggary is unknown. 

The population of Austin county in 1870 was 15000 of 
which 8500 were white and 6574 black. Since then the 
county has been divided, that part of it east of the Brazos 
river being cut off to form Waller county. The proportionate 
reduction of our population is not known, but we judge from 
the vote at the general election in February last which reach- 
ed 2425, that the present population is not far from 15000 of 
which about 2500 are negroes. 

There are in this county about 2700 tax payers and they 
pay tax on $2,326,000, part of the property is exempt from 
taxation. Altogether the property of the county averages 
nearly or quite $1000, to the family, and about $200 to the 
individual. The land in this county is rendered for taxes at 
270^101 acres, valued at $1,371,487 which is over five dollars 
per acre, general average. The number of land owners 
on the tax rolls is 1270, from which it appears that about half 
the people own real estate and that their average possession 
is over 200 acres to the family or tax payer. Wealth is very 
evenly distributed. There are twelve estates of over $10.- 
000 each and the twenty largest estates average $13,000. 

Such in brief is now our status, and such has been our his- 
tory. I could wish that this summary was more comprehen- 
sive and at the same time more condensed and perspicuous, 
especially as it is designed to be preserved to a future far 
more remote than its merits- could attain. 

In conclusion we may briefly consider the present occa- 
sion The Fourth of July 1776 is one of those great epochs 
which stand as way marks in the course of time, denoting 
the moment of transition from an old to a new era in the vast 
affairs of the world itself. From the declaration of Ameri- 
can Independence went out a great and yet increasing influ- 
ence, which has permeated every remotest corner of civiliza- 
tion. This day, long selected by custom for annual celebra- 
tion, has numbered away the years of a mighty century and 
now is set up "for time to count his ages by." As a traveler 
looking back from some great eminence and seeing at a 
glance many miles of the way which he has placed with toil- 



-'5 

ing steps behind him^ always pauses to muse awhile on the 
prospect: so looking back from the conventional stand of a 
hundred years we may well pause with emotion to contem- 
plate the course of events in the re-ceded century. It was the 
custom of an ancient nation to celebrate a solemn festival 
at the end of every fifty years, the* longest period of the 
world's affairs which could be embraced in the memory of 
living men. The interest and solemnity of the occasion 
must have been enhanced by the fact that of those who wit- 
nessed it but few had seen the preceding occasion, and of 
those" who now participated but few could hope to witness the 
succeeding one. Such a memorial festival the course of his- 
tory seems to have allotted to Texas. 

In celebrating the Centennial of American Independence 
we celebrate the semi-centennial of the settlement of Texas. 
There are those pi'esent who relate to us from memory the 
living oral history of that early time. They were young 
then ; when fifty years ago. from their rude camps and cab- 
ins in the wild valleys of this country they assembled to a 
primitive feast in commemoration of the great era which had 
struck on the horologe of time in 1776. It was a living story 
then. Their old men had seen the grand era and its earliest 
fruits. They had cultivated the tree of liberty until its far 
reaching roots embraced the foundations of these distant 
hills and already put forth those vigorous shoots which are 
the growth of freedom alone. A river flowed out from that 
tree of life and its glorious waters were sparkling in the ear- 
ly light of this new land. Brave men and fair women drank 
from that fountain and committed to us its course to future 
ages. The aged people of that time have long since depar- 
ted. The company, few in number, great in heart, who cele- 
brated here the Fourth of July of 1826 have moved on to an 
undiscovered -country, all save a few white haired men who 
have come down to us from a former generation to witness 
the results of half a century. 

Fifty years hence in 1926 will be an appropriate day to 
commemorate the Centennial of Texas. Of the children 
here to-day some will attend that distant future celebration. 
Then gray with age they will relate how in their youth they 
saw and talked with Austin's colonists, with men who fought 
at San Antonio, at San Jacinto and'in the Indian wars. 

We will b« buried with our hopes and fears 
In the deep and silent tide of a hundred years. 

May it be that then the golden candlestick may not liave 
been taken away forever from out of its place in the temple 
of liberty, nor the sacred flame gone dim, but burning still 
with unfading radiance, and around the holy fane may pos- 
terity have builded wisely on the wide and strong foundati(jns 
which our fathers laid. 

V 






^ ? 3 ^ ^ 
is 33 § I t# 



3s> :>^ ^ 






> 3 3>Z3> ^ 

l>^~3> 3>^^ 

3>j :> ;>^^^ 



3> >:)^ 

3> ?^ 

3 3 
353 



> M5 



3 3?^ 



:> >^ ^^ 
:> ^>::> 

^ •:5>:3 






^^, yj> 






)0 ^^>>^ 3»^g> 



3>>3D 



J> >^ 3 



3B3 

3> >o .:^ 



3>:>^ 



3 yi:) 
3 S> 






33^3S 3 



31 






3 J>«>r^ 



3)5 3 
3 >0 
> >3 



^ V5>> 



^y^ 



I III? - 

^>S3 oj ^> :>!> ^ - 



3 ):> y>_^ 



? $ 



3> :: 



^^^P 



5i5 






32g> 
3332>^ 












> J^ 

> ) ^ 

> > ~) 

2> :> 

3 > 
I) > 

3 3 

^> 3 
j> 3 



S3 



3 .3>0 ^ ^ - 
:> ^ > ^ 3 ^ 

3 z> 3. 3 '>:> ^- 
3 :>•>> : 

::> 3 > ^ 

3 3 3 = 
3 3 3' ^ - 3 33 ^ 

^ 73 rj- _:> >-^ 33 -^ 

I> >> ^ ^^ ^ ^^ - 
:3 » :3 30 ^ >:>^ 



^ ^'^ 

^ >^:^ 



II 

3^ 

3 :) . 

^ 3 ^ 
33 ^ 



3 3 I>>^> 

3 3 33^ 

3 3 33 > 

C> 3 ^3? 

■3^ ^3^ 

:> :) ^^.^-^ ^ 
3 3 ;^-^<; 

^ -» "*T>3^ 
o:> > 

3) ^>3D3 

^o 3>>3> 
^ i 3 > > ^ 

o>.::>333 

-> > T>3 3 > 
> > I> 3 3 ^ 
> J Z> r> > ^ 
► 3 3^ 

> . ^J> 3. ^ 

^ > '3 3 3 > 

>:3 3 7> > 

^ 3 3 3 > 

3 3 3 > 






--^ ^^3 

38 ' 

3 3 
33 

3^^ - 

> >> ^ 

33 « 

33 _ 

- 3^ .-= 

:> ^ ^ 

:> >) 3 

^o ^ 

^^ ^ 

> > _ 

3 ^ 

> ~' . 



